Tim Coronel tells ‘childish’ F1 driver he isn’t ‘ready for the top’ despite Martin Brundle praise

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Martin Brundle and his Sky Sports F1 colleagues handed out their mid-season Formula 1 awards at the Belgian Grand Prix last time out. It was the final race before the summer break, so it was the ideal opportunity to reflect on the first portion of the campaign.

Brundle chose Carlos Sainz’s performance at the Australian Grand Prix as the best of the year so far. Sainz capitalised on Max Verstappen’s retirement to win the race for Ferrari just two weeks after he missed the Saudi Arabian GP with appendicitis.

The British pundit also selected Lewis Hamilton’s Silverstone win as 2024’s most entertaining race. Hamilton prevailed in a dry/wet/dry epic where George Russell, Lando Norris and Max Verstappen all threatened to take victory.

One of the more intriguing categories was the breakthrough driver of the season. Oscar Piastri was the standout candidate, having won his first Grand Prix with McLaren in Hungary, while Oliver Bearman was also an option after a memorable debut in place of Sainz in Jeddah.

But Brundle made a ‘left-field’ pick in Yuki Tsunoda. The RB driver has outscored his much more experienced teammate Daniel Ricciardo by 22 points to 12 this year.

Tsunoda has also been impressive in qualifying, reaching Q3 in eight out of 14 races so far. Ricciardo has only done so three times and trails the head-to-head 9-5 overall.

“I’m going to a bit left-field here,” Brundle said. “I’m going to say Yuki Tsunoda. I think he’s really been outstanding this year. He needed to move his game on, and he has done so.”

Tim Coronel a fan of Yuki Tsunoda but says he’s cost himself Red Bull promotion

Writing in his mid-season review for formule1.nl, racing driver Tim Coronel also expressed his admiration for Tsunoda. He loves his ‘flamboyant’ and fiery approach to racing and wishes more of his colleagues were the same.

However, he accepts that his mindset doesn’t lend itself to joining a ‘top’ F1 team. He has ‘doubts’ in light of Tsunoda’s previous team radio outbursts.

His bosses share these concerns. Christian Horner doesn’t think Tsunoda has the mindset to ‘survive’ alongside Max Verstappen, which is why he’s focused on Ricciardo and Liam Lawson as potential replacements for Sergio Perez.

“Yuki has become one of my favourites,” Coronel wrote. “Verbally I don’t think he is ready for the top, he comes across as a bit childish at times.

“If he had presented himself in a slightly different way, he would have been in a Red Bull long ago. That’s where I have my doubts about Yuki, but on the other hand, I think it’s great that he blurts everything out.

“But apart from that: this guy from Visa RB can really step on the gas. He dares to take risks. Yuki is a flamboyant driver, he has fire in him. He shows things that sometimes make me think: ‘Hoppa! That’s what we want to see from Formula 1 drivers!'”

Yuki Tsunoda shares warning from Helmut Marko and Christian Horner last year

Tsunoda doesn’t understand why he’s not a strong contender to take over from Perez if Red Bull make a change. As the standout driver in the junior team, he should logically be the first choice.

Indeed, Tsunoda says it would be ‘weird’ if Horner favoured Lawson, who’s only driven in five F1 races. For all his progress this year, he hasn’t overcome the doubts among the team’s hierarchy.

In 2023, Horner and Marko warned Tsunoda to ‘calm down’ after a series of furious radio messages. With help from Ricciardo, he feels he’s taken heed.

But Tsunoda may come to realise that his best hope of reaching the ‘top’ is leaving Red Bull altogether. He’s under contract for 2025, but Damon Hill has told him to contact Aston Martin over a potential vacancy further down the line.